Two men attempt to torch 'Saturnalia' billboard in Pitman

PITMAN — Someone tried to torch the “Saturnalia” billboard on the edge of town Tuesday night.

An off-duty police officer from another municipality was in Carolina Blue with a number of friends when they looked across the intersection of Lambs Road and Holly Avenue at about 11:45 p.m. and spotted two men underneath the billboard, which proclaims “Keep Saturn in Saturnalia.”

The billboard was erected by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the organization’s way of countering the “Keep Christ in Christmas” banner that hangs across Broadway, Pitman’s main thoroughfare. The Christmas banner is erected by the Knights of Columbus.

The FFRF has been objecting to the Christmas banner since at least 2011, insisting it is illegally hung, without receipt of proper permits.

Despite the fact that the billboard features a depiction of the ringed planet Saturn, Saturnalia was an ancient Roman holiday named after Saturn, a Roman deity. The holiday took place near the Winter Solstice — which occurs on Dec. 21 this year — and featured public feasting and gift-giving.

Pitman police said they were told that the off-duty police officer spotted the men tossing gasoline on the billboard or its supports and then lighting it. The fire did not stay lit and the men, spotting the people approaching them from across the street, fled in a possibly blue-and-silver Chevrolet Model 1500 pickup truck with ladder racks, said police.

The attempted arson isn’t the first protest at the billboard.

On Sunday, a man in a Santa Claus suit stood at the sign for some time.

Also on Sunday, a man accompanied by a woman and child put an extension ladder against the billboard and prepared to climb up and paste a poster with a picture of a manger on it over top of the Saturnalia sign. Police intervened and the protesters left.